Sparse dark clouds drifted with the light breeze, covering the moon's face.
The chill of midnight spread through the backyard of the Clavenna estate.
That cold wind cleared Viktor's head quite a bit. He stood quietly in the spacious backyard, gazing at the waves of grass swaying in the wind.
His coat fluttered slightly.
After dealing with the Yard Divine Tree, Viktor only stayed in the Elf Forest for one day.
After reawakening a new divine tree, he returned early to the old Clavenna manor.
He did not take part in the elves' meeting, only leaving Cocotte and Leon behind in the Elf Forest for the time being.
On this trip, Viktor also happened to obtain an achievement.
[Elf Liberator: 5%]
This was an achievement that required time to unlock.
The birth of a new divine tree meant that the elves' reproduction problem had been solved.
And after the death of the Yard Divine Tree, the entire elven race was freed from its restraints and gained new freedom.
It was just that, even though the Yard Divine Tree was gone, most elves were still mentally confined by memories of the past and had not been fully liberated.
However, that was only a matter of time.
The divine tree could support the elves in reproducing again, so with enough time, the elves would adapt to their new lives.
And in the process of reproduction, the elven population would gradually recover to a relatively balanced level.
Once the elven race fully recovered, the progress of this achievement would probably reach one hundred percent.
At this moment, Viktor raised one hand and tossed something toward the sky.
A small green heart, carrying a dense aura of nature, climbed upward into the air.
[Will of Yard]
This was no longer the heart of a divine tree, but the powerful will born from it.
Yard had not completely died, or rather, Viktor had not completely killed it.
Its body had indeed been destroyed, leaving behind only its stubborn will, which condensed into this small heart.
Setting aside Yard's actions of controlling the elves, it was still quite useful to Viktor.
Viktor extended his other hand and took out clear lake water from a glass bottle at his waist.
Silvery-white water flowed upward, winding around the heart.
This was the Moon Holy Spring that Viktor had taken from the Elf Forest.
The Moon Holy Spring had an effect that accelerated growth, making it the most suitable nourishment for a divine tree.
In the crow's eyes, the holy spring water began to fall, crashing heavily into the soil from around the heart.
The moment it touched the ground, the clear stream completely merged with the soil, and the earth beneath their feet began to churn.
Violent tremors spread outward as a green sprout burst through the hard ground, then suddenly grew into a massive bronze-colored ancient tree.
The giant tree crushed countless tender blades of grass, pushed aside thick layers of soil, and stretched high into the night sky.
Its branches parted the clouds, silvery stars surrounding the great tree and reflecting the brilliant moonlight.
Watching Viktor's series of actions, Vega was extremely confused.
"After all that, this is what you ended up with?"
The function of a divine tree was only to incubate elves, so having one in the Elf Forest was already more than enough.
Vega truly couldn't understand why Viktor would plant another one in the backyard of the Clavenna estate.
Did he want to directly create a few elves to work for him?
Viktor explained calmly, "I never said divine trees can only create elves."
Vega stood on his shoulder, puzzled for a while, watching the glowing green heart before Viktor slowly emit light and drift upward into the divine tree.
"You will continue to live in reality under the name of Yard. This is an opportunity I'm giving you."
As Viktor's words fell, the Yard heart fully made contact with the divine tree.
After being illuminated by gaps of green light, the two fused together.
The divine tree seemed to gain a soul. Its green branches scattered stardust as they slowly lowered toward Viktor, as if worshiping a god.
———
Early the next morning, bright sunlight climbed onto the Clavenna estate ahead of schedule.
Liya yawned, rubbed her sleepy eyes, and opened the bedroom window.
Looking at the vast backyard plain, she froze in confusion.
'What the hell is that?'
The usual flat plain now had an astonishing giant tree that seemed to completely occupy the entire backyard.
Even standing inside her bedroom, Liya could clearly see the massive tree's distinct texture beneath the thick shadow cast by its luxuriant branches.
At the point where the trunk connected to the ground, extremely dense wildflowers and weeds grew, even reaching above a person's knees.
Silvery stars slowly drifted down from between the branches, gradually settling among the flowers.
There was also a group of servants gathered beneath the giant tree, examining it and feeling equally shocked by this massive tree that had appeared out of nowhere.
Compared to the giant tree, the servants looked like tiny ants commonly seen beneath trees.
Seeing this, Liya felt shock rise from the bottom of her heart.
'What is this thing? When did this get made?'
Suddenly, Liya thought of a possibility. She immediately started moving, not even bothering to change clothes, and ran out of the bedroom.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Bang!
Liya crashed open Viktor's bedroom door and shouted breathlessly.
"Viktor!"
She looked up and saw that Viktor seemed to have already woken up.
He stood by the window, facing the pale morning sun. His coat slowly fluttered in the fresh breeze.
Sensing Liya's entrance, he slowly turned around.
Liya looked at him and asked anxiously, "When did you get back?"
"Last night. What's wrong?"
Seeing this, Liya couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.
Hearing Viktor say that, she already had her answer.
She casually asked, "Where are Leon and Cocotte? Didn't they come back with you?"
Viktor turned his head back toward the view outside the window.
"They're staying in the Elf Forest for now. They should be back after a while."
"Oh. Oh."
Liya nodded, suddenly feeling a little awkward.
Thinking about how she had rudely pushed open Viktor's door without any consideration, she felt a bit embarrassed.
For a moment, she didn't know what to say, only turning her head and saying, "Um… if there's nothing else, I'll go get busy."
"There's still a lot of work at home waiting for me to handle."
Viktor turned back, hands in his pockets, glanced at Liya, and said calmly, "Before that, you saw the tree in the backyard, right?"
"Yeah. What about it?" Liya replied.
That giant tree was simply too shocking.
Appearing overnight in their own backyard, it felt unbelievable just thinking about it.
Liya felt that only Viktor could have done something like this.
That was how she knew Viktor had returned.
"Have Halnarsen select some strong, healthy people. You take them and go to that tree." Viktor instructed.
Liya was a bit confused, but she nodded anyway and turned to do as told. Just as she was about to leave, she heard Viktor add one more thing.
"It can examine the body."
Liya's eyes instantly lit up.
Because there were many servants in the household, regular health checkups were needed to prevent hidden infectious diseases from spreading throughout the estate.
These expenses were mostly paid by the Clavenna family and amounted to a considerable cost every year.
If a tree could handle this, wouldn't that save the family a huge amount of money?
'Nice.'
Hearing this good news, Liya hummed happily to herself and turned to head downstairs.
But before she could leave, Viktor added another sentence.
"Oh right, remember to change clothes."
"Huh?"
Liya froze. She felt a gaze from behind, as if it were freely scanning her.
Viktor's calm voice sounded.
"The pink pajamas are very cute, but if the servants see them, it would damage the Clavenna family's image."
In an instant, a flush of red spread from Liya's neck to her cheeks.
She no longer cared about appearances and slammed Viktor's bedroom door shut.
Accompanied by rapid footsteps, she quickly ran off.
After she completely left, Vega's eyes regained their shine.
It looked at Viktor, confusion in its gaze.
"I don't really understand what you're trying to do."
"Just some small experiments."
After a while, Viktor felt the timing was about right and was about to leave the room.
He opened the door.
Bang!
The door seemed to hit something soft.
"Ah…"
'Ouch, ouch, ouch!'
Henny lay half on the floor, one hand holding her head.
When she saw Viktor's face clearly, she hurriedly stood up, tidied her robe, and showed a silly smile.
"Professor! Good morning!"
Viktor calmly nodded, his gaze casually shifting away from her.
This little succubus was leveling up a bit too fast. Even wearing that loose robe meant to suppress her charm, he still found it hard to look at her directly.
"What is it?"
Viktor asked briefly. Only then did Henny take several documents out of her robe.
"Well, Professor!"
"The academy will start in one week. At that time, topics will be prepared for the new students, and entrance exams will be held."
"I'd like to ask you to take a look at these questions and see if there are any problems."
Viktor took the documents and looked them over.
In reality, he was just putting on a show. The one carefully examining them was the one-eyed crow on his shoulder.
The crow's voice sounded in his ear.
"Hmm, let me see, let me see."
"Here, there's a small loophole. Modify the rune combination formula."
"And here, it could be improved, made more suitable for beginners in magic… the runes don't need to be this complicated."
Viktor suddenly asked, "Do you have a pen?"
Henny hurriedly searched her pockets, but then suddenly heard Viktor say calmly, "Never mind."
Viktor lightly pinched his fingers in midair. A faint flame transformed into a quill pen, which he held in his hand.
He casually wrote a few strokes on the documents, leaving behind lines of flame-shaped handwriting.
The red flames flickered briefly, then went out, leaving black characters on the paper.
After finishing, he handed the documents back to Henny.
Henny stared blankly at the added black writing. After reading it carefully, her eyes lit up.
"Such… such an amazing way of thinking!"
"Professor Viktor, you really are a genius!"
She looked at Viktor with an expression of pure admiration.
Viktor only nodded. Just as he was about to leave, Henny continued speaking.
"Oh, right, there's one more thing! Professor!"
He turned back and saw Henny looking at him with a serious expression.
"The academy hopes you can design a 'dungeon' like the one from the previous assessment, to be used as a practical combat test and for publicity."
"The dean hopes I can ask for your opinion."